Page 106 of The Mourning Throne
Each swallow cooled something inside him he hadn’t realized was burning.
Morgan wiped down his neck, his arms, his chest, still methodical—but slower now. Smoother. As if he was aware Lex would break if he moved too fast. His fingers caught on a bruise. He didn’t apologize. He didn’t avoid it, either.
“You’ll start to feel better tomorrow,” Morgan said, the closest he’d come to asking how Lex felt.
Lex nodded against his shoulder.
“Don’t get that lost again,” Morgan said after a beat. “I need to be able to find you. Learn to ask for help.”
That was… a lot. Maybe the most Morgan had ever asked of him.
Lex didn’t promise.
He couldn’t.
But he shifted closer anyway. Wrapped himself tighter around Morgan’s chest.
And when Morgan pulled the blanket over them, resting his hand against Lex’s back—warm and heavy and unyielding—Lex let himself really breathe for the first time all night.
Chapter 19
Falling apart wasn’t part of Lex’s grand, master plan.
No.
He had shit todowith his life. Especially now.
Sleep was necessary. Long enough to stop shaking. Long enough for Morgan to stop holding him like he was going to break into sixteenthousandpieces.
Ten hours of sleep was fucking overkill.
When he finally managed to wake up, he stayed in bed. Under the covers. Buried there, the way he liked. Scrolling through his phone like it held all the answers.
Looking up shit was such good stress relief.
So was online shopping.
By the time he finally rolled out of bed, the suite didn’t smell like bathwater and sweat anymore. It smelled like brunch. Sausage? Eggs, maybe?
Lex’s stomach lurched.
No food. Alright. Got it.He didn’t need to be told twice.
He pushed last night out of his head—asfaras he could.
It happened. It was over. He felt better. That was all that mattered.
The room was too quiet.
Then—
“Good morning,” Morgan said, cup of coffee in hand.
Two feet from the bed.
Like he magicallyappearedthere.
Maybe not—maybe notappeared.
